Serenade of Drums
by dreamerinfic
Summary: The Master prevents Donna's memories from being erased but in the process he may have left something behind. Can Donna live with the consequences?


Title: Serenade of Drums

Author: onewhodreams

Rating: PG

Characters: Donna, Master, Ten

Spoilers: Journey's End

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who…the BBC does.

Author's Note: The Master prevents Donna's memories from being erased but in the process he may have left something behind. Can Donna live with the consequences?

"What did you do?" the Master's shocked exclamation echoed through the console room.

The Doctor looked at him sadly, Donna still held tightly in his arms, "I had to wipe her memories of us. She couldn't survive with all that Time Lord consciousness in her head. This was the only way."

"What?" the Master said in disbelief. "I leave you alone for one second and your wiping memories. It was bad enough that you dropped that luscious little blonde off on a parallel world with your human clone but now you go and erase the one semi-tolerable person in this miserable crew."

"I had no choice," he answered hopelessly.

"Fool…there's always a choice. Have you learned nothing in 900 years."

The Master helped him lower Donna to the floor then knelt beside her. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then raised his gaze to the Doctor's, "I can help her, I know I can."

The Doctor shook his head, "No, she'd still be in danger, I can't take the chance."

"What's the matter, don't you trust me? You could at least let me try. I'm not going to hurt her anymore than you already have."

A pained groan followed by a harsh shake of the head was his reply.

The Master rolled his eyes, "This is one of those guilt things isn't it? You feel responsible for ruining her life or some such nonsense and you're trying to put things back the way they were before." The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but the Master cut him off swiftly, "I'm not a masochist, Doctor and I'm not suffering along with you."

The Doctor placed a restraining hand on his arm, "Don't you dare hurt her."

A cold look passed over his face as he wrenched out of the Doctor's grasp. Then he leaned forward and placed his hands on either side of Donna's face. The Master closed his eyes and began to search her mind. It was bright, colorful, and empty. He looked around for the her the memories that the Doctor had hidden away. As he walked down a long corridor a door appeared before him, tightly locked against intrusion. He tried to open it with no luck. Even as he rattled it on its hinges it stayed firmly in place.

He took a step back and focused, visualizing in his mind what he needed…Suddenly the Doctor's sonic screwdriver appeared in his hand. Smiling ruefully he unlocked the door and proceeded to sort through Donna's memories. Slowly he put the pieces back together, rebuilding Donna's last two years, her memories of the Doctor, of him. The Time Lord part of her he kept hidden away, locked away behind the same door deep in the recesses of her mind.

When he was done he made his way back to the main room. Looking around at the bright colorful lights that surrounded him the Master closed his eyes tight, the drums pounding hard through his head, and laid a hand to his temple.

When he opened his eyes he was sitting on the floor before an unconscious Donna. His work was done. The Doctor was staring at him warily, unsure of what had happened, afraid to ask.

"It's done. She's fine," The Master stated simply as he rose swiftly and strode from the console room without a backward glance.

Later, as Donna lay in her bed, blinking up at the blurry image of the Doctor above her, she thought she heard the faint sound of drums beating in the back of her mind…Just a headache, she told herself. The Doctor was trying to explain what had happened to her. She tried to listen to his words, to comprehend what he was telling her, but it was so hard to focus. Her mind kept wandering.

She found herself daydreaming, seeing the Master there in her mind in his perfect suit and his shiny shoes. She shuddered a little at the thought. The man who had masqueraded as Harold Saxon, taken over her country and very nearly destroyed her world had saved her. It seemed so out of character for him. And so she began to ponder what could've happened? Why would he have helped her? There had to be something in it for him.

And then she would hear them, faint but steady, deep in the background of her mind. Beating a drumbeat that was calling to her, urging her towards something, but what she couldn't be sure.

In the days the followed the Doctor watched her, quizzed her and tested her memory at every opportunity. Donna knew he was making sure that everything in her mind was where it should be and that the Master hadn't tampered with anything. He never asked about the drums and Donna never told him. For some reason she felt a need to keep them to herself. Of course, when she got a chance she would definitely be asking the Master about them, but she hadn't seen him since she regained consciousness. It appeared he was sulking…or afraid.

Despite the brave face the Doctor tried to put on Donna knew he was in no condition to help her or anyone else. He was depressed over leaving Rose behind with his half human self. Behind the Doctor's eyes she could see his immense sorrow at losing Rose. As the days wore on he began to disappear for long periods of time. He wasn't sleeping in his room and he rarely joined her at meals. Donna tried to look for him, to bring him out of his stupor, but any attempts to locate him usually met with long, lonely walks through the TARDIS corridors.

At least she knew where the Master was. Loud music blared from his room at all hours, pounding through the walls and shaking the floorboards. Entering his room seemed to be an impossibility but whether this was his own doing or the TARDIS she wasn't sure. But they needed to talk, whether he wanted to or not.


End file.
